Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles A-bolts, what's your beef with them

The only Browning I care for is my B92 in .44 Mag that Dad gave me back in the 80's. Shot his BLR, didn't care for it.

Uncle tried to give me his 7mm RM BLR and I turned it down. Still don't like the looks of the browning bolts.

My beef with A-Bolts is I don't have one in 7mmWSM yet...I can see a stainless one bedded into a McMillan Sako Hunter in the near future.

Another beef with A-Bolts is the shiney blued models even get better with Cerakote.

Biggest beef with A-Bolts is they ballance well and are very accurate. I guess that could get uninteresting, boring, and monotonous.


A-Bolt II Shot Show Grade IV - 300WSM
BLR LIghtweight Takedown - 325WSM

Yes, that Browning sticker is a classy design,I would get one just for that reason alone. The rifle I found for my left-handed son was an A-Bolt II,the blueing wore quickly,the too hard finish shattered and when the action screw backed off a turn,it wouldn't feed.

the guns are ugly and the service sucks big time , so why punish myself buy buying crap.

Basically - they do nothing better than anyone else for my dollar.

Accurate? Yep but so are Remingtons, lots of Winchesters, most Rugers and about every Salvage I've seen.

Functional? Yep but so is just about anything off the shelf.

Shiny? - Yep, don't like that.

Ergos? - Subjective but for my dollar NOTHING compares to the ergos of a Ruger M77.

So why would I pay a premium price that offers NOTHING over a comparable Ruger? (ain't gonna even play the CRF v PF thing)

I've owned about 10 of those and never had an issue. M77, M77 Mk II and soon to be Hawkeye.

So it's not that they've hurt me but they sure don't impress me and I ain't payin' 800 bucks to be underwhelmed...

Don't see much value in others' opinions regarding guns I spend my money on. Own more Brownings than anything else - all have worked flawlessly and are accurate. Same with Remingtons, Kimbers and Marlins I own. If I found a stainless Winchester Featherweight at a good price I'd own one. Have never found anything appealing in a Ruger - heavy and ugly in my opinion.

Ford Chevy Dodge Toyota trucks...Burris Leupold Zeiss Swarovski scopes....personal taste and opinions - would be a boring world if everyone liked the same things!

I haven't posted in a long time. But here I go, I love my Browning A-Bolt w/Burris Signature 3-9. It will easily shoot MOA and I have never had any problems with it in 12 years of Montana hunting.

Oh, I have a buckmark on my pickup and a pink one on my wife's tahoe.

I just bought another one.

Micro Medallion in .284Win. Accurate, light, deer deadly. Great rifle to hunt the craggy cold Adirondacks. Works for me.

A Bolt Hunter 257 Robt. AI. Sanded down, reformed, Birchwood Casey finished stock. Full length 'glass bedded barrel, modified clip, adjusted trigger and the most accurate hunting rifle I have ever owned. (Original barrel)

For those of you who actually own and seriously dislike your Browning, please PM me and for no fee I will be glad to take it off your hands. Correction, I'll even entertain the concept of actually paying you for it!

Thanks,

Jim

LOL! There is a large number (not all, but a lot) of "redneck" trucks here with them as well. Back in the day browning use to make some pretty good stuff, now the dollar seems a bit high for what they are offering. They are "precision" rifles", meaning less tolerance and more accuracy with smooth as glass operation. Just don't abuse one too much.... If you need an auto loader you can't go wrong with a BAR though!

Browning makes one HELL of an O/U and anyone serious about the clays game but not $12,000 K gun serious should start and end with Browning.

Don't really have a beef with the A-Bolt that I've found yet.

The Mrs. has a Hunter in .308 win. It's light, quick, well-balanced and shoots with boring accuracy.

My Stainless Stalker in .375 Weatherby is light, quick, well-balanced and shoots with boring accuracy. The aging black finish on the synthetic stock is getting pretty chalky looking. I don't mind an ugly rifle at all. But I do think I'll invest a 20 spot in some DuraKote some day.

Most every Redneck in my part of NC owns a Remington,

I have owned three. All have been excellent shooters, I just happen to like Ruger #1's and sold my Brownings for them. I have never had any complaints and have owned a medallion in 300 WM and it kicked less than my Tikka T3 300 WSM. As far as looks the old cliche of "drop dead gorgeous" has never worked on game for me. So, I'll take accuracy and function while hunting over looks I guess. Buy one with a synthetic stock and the matte finish and you'll do fine. I have an old A-bolt stalker in .280 Rem. I couldn't think of a much better rifle for the majority of any hunting I would ever do.

I have owned a few A-Bolts and still have two. I bought all mine used and feel they are way over priced new. Besides, with all you guys dis'n 'em, that just lowers the price on the used market. The gold trigger is just a poor signature. The Timney trigger kit for $20 makes all the difference in the world. The magazine design is brilliant. Anyone who says that you can't top load these certainly isn't very dexterous. The tang safety is a big plus to me. The shiny wood versions are just like Weatherby without the ego. These are sporting rifles, not military arms, so many of the durability comments are unfounded.

"The magazine design is brilliant." Marlin certainly thought so,they copied it on their earlier MR-7.On my son's Marlin the bottom release is the same as on the Winchester.On one hunt,we went to bed with the loaded mag out of the rifle,the latch froze.The rifle was useless until we thawed it out.On my other son's Browning,when the action screw backed off,it wouldn't feed,luckly that was at the range when I was doing load development. It's a slower to load the clip than to do a single cartridge top feeding. For a clip,the Sako/short action Savage systen is a much better one.

I'm sure they're okay rifles, I just don't like Browning's style. The only Brownings I own are a Belgian .22 auto and a BT-99 trap gun. The BT -99 is awfully gaudy for my tastes, but it works well.

Gaudy is as gaudy does, tho.

Just buy a Howa they are cheaper and just as well made.

So pick on Browning and Winchester for a Marlin-made rifle? The action screw backing off is your fault for not securing it with Lock-Tite or similar. The unload of the magazine is what is really nice, no spingy, boingy noisy thingy dumping your rounds all at once (not brilliant.) It's not slower to load the clip (from top or bottom) or insert a new clip if you would just practice. Focus people, focus.